(the letters stood for Business Instead of Game).Īfter more successful appearances on hit songs (and his solo track 'Party and Bullshit' appearing on the Who's The Man? soundtrack), and a marriage to singer Faith Evans just nine days after meeting her at a Bad Boy photoshoot, Wallace released his first album: Ready to Die. Blige's 'Real Love,' but later found out that his original pseudonym Biggie Smalls was already in use, so he adapted a new moniker: The Notorious B.I.G. Later that year, Wallace gained exposure on a remix to Mary J. However, soon after signing the contract, Combs found himself fired from Uptown and started up a new label, Bad Boy Records, which Wallace quickly became a part.

This lead to a chain of events that resulted in him teaming up with Uptown Records A&R and record producer Sean 'Puffy' Combs. 'B.I.G.' and 'Biggie' were rather apt names, as he stood at 6'3'' and weighed between 300 and 380 pounds.Īfter a childhood of crime caught up with him, Wallace decided to focus on his other talent: Rapping, under the name Biggie Smalls. Christopher George Latore Wallace (March 9, 1997), known by several stage names such as Biggie Smalls, note after a fictional gangster in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again The Black Frank White, note after Christopher Walken's character in King of New York and Big Poppa, but most prominently by The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper.

The notorious big albums